Man charged in Amy Lord's killing pleads 'not guilty'

Updated: Aug 15, 2013 - 5:39 AM

Loading...

of

0

Man charged in Amy Lord's killing pleads 'not guilty'

BOSTON (AP)

- A Boston man charged with kidnapping a woman outside her apartment, forcing her to withdraw money from several ATMs, then fatally stabbing her at a city park, was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Thursday.

A not guilty plea was entered on behalf of Edwin Alemany, 28, who is charged with murder in connection with the July 23 killing of Amy Lord, 24.

Alemany's lawyer, Jeffrey Denner, told the West Roxbury District Court judge that his client used his bare hands to try and tear out the arteries in his arms and neck in a suicide attempt in jail on Wednesday, and asked that he be sent to a state psychiatric facility instead. The judge agreed.

Prosecutor John Pappas detailed the attack on Lord in court. She was kidnapped outside her apartment and forced back into the building and beaten, he said. Her assailant then forced her to use her own car to drive to five ATMs and withdraw money. She was then forced to drive to Stony Brook Reservation in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood where she was killed. A bicyclist found the body later that day.

Alemany drove her vehicle back to South Boston and set the vehicle on fire, Pappas said, then went on a spending spree, telling friends that he won the money playing the lottery.

He has a long history of mental health issues that have largely gone untreated, Denner said.

"His family will tell you he's a terrific kid who from an early age was very distressed," he said outside court Thursday, flanked by about 20 of Alemany's relatives and friends, including his parents.

Lord was a former high school cheerleader from Wilbraham who had attended Bentley University in Waltham and moved to South Boston when she landed a job at a digital media company. Her family said she loved Southie because its small town values reminded her of her home town in western Massachusetts.

Lord was killed during a violent 24-hour period in which prosecutors allege Alemany assaulted two other women. Alemany was ordered held on $3 million bail Wednesday after pleading not guilty in South Boston District Court to the two non-fatal assaults.

Local martial arts studios say the three assaults sparked a surge in requests from women for self-defense lessons.